Purity and Prosperity

Posted 10/5/2002 8:41:42 AM

Joseph and Potiphar's wife: Ge 39:1-21

He became successfull, because the Lord was with him Ge 39:2
Potiphar realized that Joseph meant prosperity, so he put Joseph in charge of his entire household Ge 39:3-5 - and God kept on blessing everything for Joseph's sake.
Joseph also is a handsome, successful, young men around 20, give or take a couple years
Mrs. Potiphar sees all that's happened, and sees Joseph, and wants him.
She insisted day after day, and Joseph refused day after day, because he could not imagine sinning against God. Ge 39:9
She eventually caught him by himself, but he still fled her advances.
Mrs. Potiphar shows more of her base character by using her captured garment as a means of spinning a story that Joseph had tried to rape her, and fled when she screamed.
Potiphar (amazingly) believed his wife, and threw Joseph in prison.
End of blessings for Potiphar, because they went with Joseph to prison. Ge 39:21

Consistency

Joseph was consistent in his commitment to do right by God. How did he know what was right? There weren't any 10 Commandments yet, or Jesus' teachings; nothing but the God-given conscience that everyone is born with.

Potiphar was consistently interested in profits and prestige. He used Joseph to make money, but threw him out when his wife threatened to undermine his prestige.

Mrs. Potiphar was consistently a manipulator. She wanted to use Joseph for her own pleasure, and then used him to protect her reputation when she failed in enticing him.

What if

. . . Joseph had given in to Mrs. Potiphar? He would have displeased God, and she would have dumped him soon enough anyway.

. . . Potiphar had not listened to his wife, and believed Joseph instead? Well, Joseph wouldn't have ended up in prison, and then as second-in-command to Pharoah, and then sparing the entire Middle East from famine with his God-given wisdom in implementing his food-storage plan.

We don't really know what if, because God will accomplish his will regardless, but it is interesting to see how God always turns "bad" things into perfect ways of getting things done.

In comparison

Judah and Tamar

Look at Ge 38:1-30, an often overlooked chapter in between Joseph's sale to the Midianites, and the story of his career in Egypt. Judah sees an attractive Canaanite, the daughter of Shua, and sleeps with her, giving them a three sons. His sons grow up, and Judah finds a wife for Er named Tamar. But Er was really wicked, so God took his life. Onan's job was to take Tamar, and make children in his brother's name, but he didn't, so God took his life, too. Judah told Tamar she could have Shelah later, when he was older and hopefully mature enough to obey God.

A long time passed, long enough for Judah's wife to die. How long was that? How long did people live then? In any case, this probably doesn't chronologically fit in the pause in Joseph's life. Anyway, years pass, and Tamar hasn't been given Shelah yet.

Tamar gets a plan to get Judah's attention. She dresses up as a harlot, meets Judah along the way, and gets him to sleep with her. She gets his seal, cord, and staff as promise of a goat in payment, which he cannot pay because she returns home and changes back into her widow's clothes. He can't find the "temple prostitute" he needed to pay, b ut it turns out Tamar is pregnant. Oooh, now Judah's made - how could she do such a thing! "Burn her!" he says. But then when she proves that he's the dad, oh, now he's sorry, and she has two sons Perez and Zerah.

This whole twisted up story of wickedness and Judah's lack of morals results in the continuation of the line of Jesus: Perez was directly in the line from Abraham to Joseph. Mt 1:3

Shechem and Dinah

Ge 34:1-31 Dinah went out socializing with the Canaanite girls, and got raped by Shechem, the son of the area's ruler. He decided he liked her enough to marry, and asked his dad to get Jacob to agree to let him marry Dinah. When her brothers found out, they were furious. But, they pretended to along with it, and concocted a deceptive plan that they would allow it if all the men of of Shechem's city would become circumcised.

The Canaanites agreed, and the men were all circumcised. Simeon and Levi took advantage of this, and went in and killed all the men, taking Dinah back. All the brothers plundered the town, which Jacob didn't like because it hurt his reputation.

Ammon and Tamar

Another wrong family relation, and another Tamar 2Sa 13:1-39. This time it's her brother Amnon who wants her so bad he doesn't think of anything else. He has a "friend," actually a cousin Jonadab, who gives hims advice on how to trick both his father David and Tamar. Now Jonadab didn't actually tell Amnon to take Tamar, but that's the whole idea.

She resisted Amnon's advances, and tried to reason with him that she would then be disgraced, and he would be a fool. She also asks him to go through David for permission. Apparently David was a pushover to his kids (at least Tamar thought so), and would have let Amnon take Tamar for a wife, even though they were stepsister and brother.

He ignored her, and raped her, and ended up hating her with just as much excess as he had previously lusted for her. He kicked her out.

Tamar's brother Absalom was an extremely cunning young man, and had an infamous life ahead of him. At this point, he looked for the first opportunity to avenge his sister on Amnon. Two years later he found it, arranging a sheep-shearing party with all the (many) king's sons, and had his men kill Amnon.

David and Bathsheba

Probably the most famous case of adultery in the Bible, this is where the trouble with David's family all started. He got himself into trouble by watching her bathe, and then taking the action to bring her over to his house and sleep with her. 2Sam 11:4

This led to a big coverup that got Bathsheba's husband (loyal and faithful to David) killed, and their firstborn died as well. David's loose attitude about sex obviously got picked up by his sons, and Israel fell apart because of their excesses.

Men of Gibeah and the concubine

Judges ends Jud 20:5 with the awful story of some depraved men who raped a man's concubine all night, so much that they killed her; when really they wanted to have the man instead.

Lot and his daughters

Lot's daughters got him drunk, and got him to sleep with them Ge 19:30-38. The results of this incest were Moab and Ammon, enemies of Israel to this day.

Samson and his wife

Samson married a Philistine woman, and threw a party to celebrate. The guests couldn't figure out his riddle, and pressured his wife with threat of death to tell them. Jud 14:15

Samson wanted to please his girlfriend Delilah, and lost his eyes because she had other friends with more sway over her than he had. Jud 16:4-6

All verses in this article